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Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Tang Qi Volume 4 Hu Han Cang Qiong Chapter 304 Liaojin
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- In the eighth year of Tiance's reign, Zhang Jin entered Luoyang. The Tang army's offensive "rises suddenly and disperses quickly"!
The army was raised in mid-February. On the third day of March, Zhang Mai’s troops approached the Yellow River. On the fifth day of the third month, the vanguard troops arrived in Zhengzhou. On the ninth day of the third month, Bishui Pass changed hands. On the thirteenth day,
On the same day, the three vanguards arrived at the east gate of Luoyang, and after ten days of siege, Shi Chonggui surrendered, and the Shi Jin Dynasty, which had ruled the world for less than ten years, perished.
It was less than two months from the time the army was raised to the end of the war. On the first day of April, after Zhang Mai rewarded all the troops in Luoyang, he ordered the disbandment of 300,000 militiamen. Most of them could rush back to participate in the summer harvest at home. From then on, the comings and goings of Guanzhong, Jingbei, and Hedong prefectures and counties were all determined by messages.
The land of China, which had been in chaos for nearly a hundred years after the Mid-Tang Dynasty, has finally gradually returned to peace and tranquility recently. A huge empire stretching from the sea to the east, to the river in the west, to the Yangtze River in the south, and surrounded by large deserts was proclaimed. Although Liu Zhiyuan has not yet surrendered, and Taiyuan's An Chongrong has not yet accepted reorganization, one of them could not retreat, and the other declared himself a vassal. Zhang Mai did not seem to have any intention of forcibly conquering for a while, so the Central Plains soon entered a comprehensive peace. state.
There were many lieutenant generals in the army who hoped that Zhang Tianzi could take advantage of the situation to attack. Among them, Zhang Congbin was the most enthusiastic. He believed that not only Liu Zhiyuan, but also An Chongrong, who respected his own troops, was obviously disobedient and should be eliminated early.
But Zhang Mai responded: "Give them some time, I hope they can make the right choice."
Then not only did hundreds of thousands of militiamen be disbanded, but the main force also withdrew from Luoyang to Kaifeng and Zhengzhou for food, leaving only Zhe Deyi to lead his troops to garrison here.
The old officials of the Shi Jin Dynasty were extremely disappointed with this. They really hoped that Zhang Mai would ascend the throne in Luoyang. They even secretly prepared the dragon robes and various ritual utensils before Shi Chonggui surrendered. If Zhang Mai ascended the throne in Luoyang, The capital was established in Luoyang. When a new dynasty is established in Luoyang, many etiquette systems will be in their hands, and they will stand on top of the future dynasty.
But what is regrettable is that not only did Zhang Mai not ascend the throne, he did not even stay in Luoyang for a long time. He stayed in Luoyang for less than ten days before heading east to Zhengzhou. Follow south to Kaifeng. The old officials of the Shi Jin Dynasty were extremely disappointed and even panicked!
Until now, Zhang Mai has not made any new ministers!
In other words, after these old ministers of Shi Jin abandoned their old boss Shi Chonggui, the new boss hadn't even officially hired them yet!
“Officials from the East and West Prefectures, the Six Ministries, and numerous officials, large and small, were all panicked.
Does Zhang Longxiang still want us?
If not, what should we do?
What made them even more panicked was that Wei Renpu did not come alone this time!
Behind him. And with nearly two hundred moves!
At the end of last year, Wei Renpu held an examination in Yedu. The format and scale of the examination were modeled on Qinzhou. The scholars who were considered this time were mainly from Hebei and Shandong. After screening, a total of 206 people were admitted, but these two hundred people His educational level is obviously a level higher than that of Qin Xi's subject - this is natural. Since ancient times, Shandong has produced good ministers, and the cultural level of scholars in Guandong has improved. It is far beyond what the Kansai people can match.
Seeing the two hundred people gathered around Zhang Mai, Shi Jin's old ministers all felt disappointed - these are the new ministers of the new dynasty, where are they, the "old ministers of the former dynasty" and "the surrendered ministers of the previous generation"? "Can it be compared?"
Since ancient times, capital officials have always been more valuable than local officials, but now it seems that these former capital officials of Shi Jin are not as good as former local officials of Shi Jin. In order to maintain local stability, Zhang Mai moved to the newly annexed areas. As long as they are state and county officials who are willing to take orders, they basically have no immediate plans to replace them, but officials in the capital do not have this kind of treatment. When the country changes, all power will be returned to the two hubs of the east and west - east of Tongguan and Zhenggui East hub of Yanjing; west of Tongguan. The government returned to Xishu in Liangzhou. As for the old team in Luoyang, what's going on with them?
After nearly a month or two of panic, news came from Kaifeng. Zhang Mai announced that two "big exams" would be held in Kaifeng.
The first major exam is for scholars. Tiance will hold another imperial examination. The format of this exam will be modeled on the two exams in Qinzhou and Yedu. As for the candidates, they will mainly be in Hedong, Henan, and Jingbei. Students from central and western Guanxi, but scholars from other areas who have not had time to take the previous two rounds of exams in the future can also come to participate. As for the examiners, they will be led by Feng Dao and Wei Renpu as deputy. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that Feng Dao was still in important positions.
The second major exam was for Shi Jinjing officials. Zhang Mai announced that an official selection would be held in Kaifeng, from which a group of officials would be selected, either to join the East and West two hubs to participate in government affairs, or to be assigned to local governments for successive posts. As for those who were not selected, Yes, then go home.
Although the new owner did not immediately give themThe old ministers in Luoyang were disappointed, but being able to participate in the election of officials finally prevented them from despair, so the princes of Luoyang left Luoyang in a hurry and rushed to Kaifeng. Luoyang, which was originally crowded, suddenly became empty in an instant.
"In a few days, the streets and alleys of Kaifeng were filled with scholars.
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Changes in the Central Plains spread quickly through various channels.
After the capture of Luoyang, the biggest benefit for merchants all over the world is that the trade route from Liangzhou to the East China Sea is no longer blocked. Merchants from Qinxi who want to come to Shandong do not need to take a detour. They can go directly to Weibei and pass through Tongguan. You can go all the way to Dengzhou by taking Guandao Road. Of course, if you want to go to Yanjing, taking the northern route is still a good choice.
A small caravan from the Northeast that was stranded in Luoyang, after the "liberation" of Luoyang, first sold the remaining Korean ginseng to the northwest merchants who poured into Luoyang City, and then purchased a batch of Liangzhou weaving products. cotton-padded clothes, a batch of Buddhist products from India, and a batch of rare goods from the Western Regions. They were packaged and transported to Zhengzhou by water transport. These large quantities of goods were stored in Zhengzhou. However, he went south to Kaifeng and purchased a batch of Jiangnan embroidery in Kaifeng. ——After the opening of Xuzhou’s market, the operating results were far beyond everyone’s expectations. The business was extremely hot. In just a few months, a large number of Jiangnan goods were imported into the Central Plains through this transfer station, and Kaifeng was the place where goods from South China were imported. One of the largest distribution centers in the Central Plains.
This small caravan from the Northeast stayed in Kaifeng for seven or eight days. In addition to purchasing goods, they also inquired about a lot of recent news about the Tang Dynasty. They saw with their own eyes that the young and outstanding officials in Luoyang came out with great satisfaction after being elected. , I also saw with my own eyes many old and humble officials leaving with shame on their faces.
Everyone in the market is commenting. Zhang Longxiang was really ruthless this time. Many people who held high positions in the Shi Jin Dynasty were unsuccessful. Many people who were "famous in the world" in the past were also "not good officials." However, the "seven criteria and twenty-four items" for selecting officials were It is also spreading among the people.
Fame? Useless! Now Zhang Longxiang no longer needs to win over celebrities to prove the legitimacy of Tiance Datang.
Poetry? Useless! Now the court is in urgent need of people with practical talents, and does not need a group of ministers who can whitewash peace.
Qualifications? Useless! What does your decades of experience as an official in the previous dynasty have to do with the new dynasty?
Network? Useless! One emperor and one courtier. Now the people in power in Tiance are all upstarts.
What's even more terrible is that the people who carried out the selection of officials this time were not the "highly respected" people, not even the people in power in the New Tang Dynasty, but a group of young people - that is, the batch of candidates who graduated from the Qinzhou imperial examination. After a year of experience, some people have already entered the official career. This time, there are twenty-one such "young people", divided into three rounds, seven people in each round, with the "Seven Big and Twenty-Four Little" formulated by Zhang Mai himself. "There are "31" criteria in total, which are compared, assessed and scored one by one. Then, according to the score line drawn by Zhang Mai, those who pass will be kept for observation, those who are good will be retained, and those who are outstanding will be selected to Zhang Mai's side for other key arrangements.
Hundreds of Luoyang officials poured into Kaifeng, but 80% of them were rejected. In the end, only 20% remained, and most of them were struggling near the passing line and were rated as excellent. Just three people.
The caravan from the Northeast listened to the comments of various characters in the tavern, and some of them sighed. There are people who lament, but not many people accuse Zhang Mai of being harsh.
The "Thirty-one" rules were announced at the newly established public booth in Kaifeng before the official selection, and the official selection results of all those who participated in the official selection - specifically whether they passed a certain item and how many points they scored were also announced. All of this is not a behind-the-scenes operation.
The business owner of the Northeastern Caravan has also read the "Thirty-One" Rules. Many of them are really common sense and pragmatic, but even so, there are still some old guys who are "famous" They don’t understand, don’t know, and can’t. People in the country can't help but lament that the Shi Jin Dynasty used some rubbish officials. No wonder this dynasty will perish!
After listening to all kinds of opinions in the market, this Northeastern caravan collected some secret letters through various channels, and then returned to Zhengzhou.
Now the policy regime has set up cargo storage areas in several transit station cities and opened up small warehouses one after another. As long as you pay a fee, you can seal the goods inside, lock it, take the key to another place, and collect it when you come back. This is not only very convenient for people and business, but also creates many new employment opportunities - those The stewards in the cargo storage area are mostly disabled veterans.
After collecting the goods, the caravan took a boat into the canal and came all the way to Yedu, where it happened to be a grand event-the launch of Datang's new money.
Tiance Datang announced at the beginning of the year that it would mint new coins and prepare to modify the currency system. The new coins are divided into three levels: gold, silver and copper. Copper coins are still used.?Basic value, while gold and silver are needed for the exchange of bulk goods. Last year, Kanzao Camp found a large copper mine in Monan. Zhang Mai sent 20,000 prisoners of war to mine it and refined a large amount of copper, which became the source of copper for minting coins this year.
The copper coins of the Central Plains are the hard currency that can travel half of the world in this era! The caravan from the Northeast immediately sold a batch of goods in Yedu and exchanged them all for copper coins. The new coins still looked like Brother Kong Fang, with "Tongbao of the Tang Dynasty" printed on one side and "Eight Years of Tiance" printed on the other.
The amount of money released in this first batch is huge, but there is still a tendency that supply exceeds demand. I heard that Zhang Longxiang lamented the limited copper mines in the country and the shortage of gold and silver. He was ready to search for the source of copper mines overseas. According to unknown sources, Japan in the East China Sea and Mayi (Philippines) in the South China Sea are rich in copper, silver and gold mines. Driven by these interests, several big businessmen are already eager to recruit people to go overseas. Explored.
"This" the merchant owner of this northeastern caravan thought to himself: "Does Zhang Longxiang still want to fight to the Japanese country?"
This was not the only thing that surprised the business owner. With the distribution of new money, the Tang Dynasty also launched new projects in Yanjing, Yunzhou, Dingliao, Tianjin, Dengzhou, Yedu, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Qinzhou, Liangzhou, Lanzhou, Twelve cities including Xuzhou opened government-run banks, initially offering only deposits here and withdrawals there.
The business owner of this caravan in the Northeast was curious when someone introduced the details of the bank's operations. He was curious. His business was really not small, and it was indeed inconvenient to carry a large amount of copper coins. However, he was new to this kind of business and didn't have the confidence yet. But out of a trying mentality, he deposited 20,000 yuan in Yedu and received twenty receipts called silver notes.
"With these twenty pieces of flimsy paper, you took away twenty thousand dollars from me?"
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He took the banknote and boarded the boat with some anxiety, heading north. The canal bifurcates in Hejin Town - heading northwest to Yanjing, and east to Tianjin. When arriving in Tianjin, I couldn't help but be a little shocked!
In the past year, Tianjin has opened its doors very vigorously. It has opened its ports to Korea, Japan, the southeastern coast, oceanic countries and even Khitan. This businessman took advantage of this east wind and crossed the Bohai Sea by boat. When I came here, Tianjin was just a small town not much bigger than a fishing village, but now I look at it. The territory has doubled in just one year!
Last year, Zhang Mai appointed Zhao Zan to manage maritime affairs, and divided Tianjin into four major blocks - the first block is the garrison area, which became the Tianjin Military Town; the second block is the commercial area, and since there are no houses, for the time being it is all tents; The third block is the living area, which is the original small fishing village; the fourth block is the administrative area, where the first batch of new mud-tile houses built last year are located.
The commercial area and the living area are together and belong to the old area in urban planning; the garrison area and the administrative area are together. Belongs to the new city. Among them, the administrative district has now formed a mile-long street, and there is a gravel road between the old and new districts.
With the administrative district as the core. Four new streets are already being built, one is funded by the Zheng and Nai families, one is funded by the Zhao and Fu families, one is funded by the military's surplus money raised by the generals, and the last one is funded by the loud voices of the Yan and Hebei gentry. After appeal, they collectively contributed funds. Street regulations must be constructed according to the planning map. Four streets, two vertical and two horizontal, will form four commercial streets in the future - this will be the core area of ??Tianjin New City.
An open space has been designated to the west of the administrative area as a future residential area. Currently, the land has been sold out in advance. The house must also be built according to certain specifications. Like the new commercial district, there is also a lot of construction going on right now.
Seeing the lively atmosphere in Tianjin, the business owners of this caravan in the Northeast couldn't help but sigh with emotion - is this really the troubled times that just ended?
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He didn’t stay long and made a deal in the business district. Then he took a car to the administrative district with some apprehension and found a bank there.
"Compared with when the bank first opened in Yedu, there were still more people talking and fewer people buying and selling. In less than half a month, this bank in Tianjin already has a queue. The business owner waited in line for half an hour before it was his turn, and after paying a batch of handling fees, he received 20,000 new dollars.
After getting the money, I felt completely relieved, but also felt a little emotional. If I had known this, I would have just saved all the money in Ye. Why should I be worried all the way? When depositing and withdrawing more than 10,000 yuan, there is not much difference in handling fees.
At this time, he suddenly thought: "It would be great if there was such a bank in Daliao."
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Today’s Tianjin is a big construction site, with a lot of business trips and high living expenses, but the living conditions are still very poor - the place where this business owner lives is surrounded by a fence.A tent is almost the same as an animal! The supply is still in short supply!
After finishing his business and inquiring about the news, he had no intention of staying any longer and was preparing to go back to sea.
This caravan came from the Liao Kingdom and had two sea ships. When arriving, they were deposited at the port. Tiance Tang Army established Tianjin Military Town and Tianjin Customs here. Currently, Datang only has two official sea entrances, Tianjin and Dengzhou. All overseas visitors by sea must pass through these two The customs enters and obtains a business license certificate within the territory of Datang, otherwise it is smuggling. It will be very troublesome after entering the country. Everyone entering the country must also apply for a temporary residence permit.
Similarly, when leaving, you must return your trading license and temporary residence permit, and pay taxes according to the quantity of goods - the commercial tax paid at the market, the lijin paid at the canal checkpoint, and the customs duty paid here. The commercial taxes under the New Tang Dynasty system were numerous and formal. Currently, various commercial taxes are becoming a huge financial resource for the new government.
This is the last hurdle before going to sea. Coming here, the business owner can't help but feel a little uneasy. After the clerk who applied for the certificate completed all the formalities, he glanced at him and suddenly said with a smile: "This boss came to our Datang this time and made a lot of money."
The title boss. I don't know when it started. According to rumors, Zhang Mai jokingly called Zhao Zan "Boss Zhao" that day, so it spread and became a trend.
The business owner didn’t know how to answer, so he just smiled and was wondering if he needed a bribe. The clerk asked again: "Will you come next time?" He didn't know how to answer.
"If you still plan to come, I will give you a receipt. Remember to bring this receipt with you next time. With the conditions of the business owner, if you have been here three times and have not committed any crime or evaded taxes, you can apply. A business license valid for ten years. You can even apply for naturalization and live in the Tang Dynasty forever."
When the business owner heard this, he was greatly moved. Although he came with a special mission, this trip to the Tang Dynasty really opened his eyes. I gained a lot. It would be a great good thing if we could keep in contact with each other for a long time. I immediately begged the clerk to help me deal with it.
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He carefully put the receipt into his arms, and then escorted all the duty-paid goods into the port. Two days ago, his subordinates had gone to the port to collect the ship, and the water staff at the port inspected the ship for them - of course There is a fee for everything.
Just as he was about to board the boat, a clever young man came forward. Asked: "Boss, are these two your ships?"
With a mentality unique to spies. The business owner looked at the young man warily and asked, "So what?"
The young man laughed, pointed at the two sea ships and said, "Boss, you dare to go to sea with these two broken ships that can only guarantee no leakage. I admire you, I admire you!" He pointed at the two Khitan ships. The ships on the sea started to criticize each other, and they pointed out the shortcomings of the Khitan ships. He seems to be very knowledgeable about the structure of ships.
China's shipbuilding reached its peak during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The Five Dynasties inherited its craftsmanship, but its level of large-scale shipbuilding dropped significantly - after all, the entire country was on the verge of decline, and naturally it could no longer produce the kind of ships that were produced during the Sui Yang Emperor's period. A giant dragon boat. But due to the chaos of the times. There are so many pirates that the manufacturing of small sea ships has improved in certain processes.
Generally speaking, the shipbuilding technology in North China is not as good as that in the Southeast. Vertical comparison is backward compared to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but no matter what, it is still much higher than that of the Khitan. The two ships from the Liao Kingdom were actually re-exported from Korea. The merchant was somewhat complacent when they first went to sea, but now they are useless in the mouth of this young man.
When the Liao businessman was about to get angry because of what he said, the young man suddenly changed his tone and said: "Boss, look at the goods you piled up here, and you can see how big your business is! The son of a rich man cannot sit down in front of you. How can someone with such a huge net worth ride on such a shabby ship? It’s better to get another one as soon as possible!”
After a long quarrel, the business owner realized that this young man was here to sell boats!
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At that time, Zhao Zan conquered the coast of Shandong, unified the shipbuilding groups in North China, and introduced many skilled craftsmen from the southeast. After he attached himself to Zhang Mai, Zhang Mai attached great importance to this, not only tilting his political resources, but also providing It then provided some related technologies newly developed by Tiance in the past ten years, recruited a large number of craftsmen, and even directly arranged for thousands of people to join the shipbuilding team, and established two shipyards in Tianjin and Dengzhou.
These two shipyards are publicly controlled and privately owned. The Tianjin shipyard is jointly operated by Fu, Li, and Gao, and the Shandong shipyard is handed over to the Zhao family. Although it has a government background, the first batch of finished products is a batch of civilian marine products. Ships, and many shipyards sell them for profit.
NowMaritime trade is in the ascendant. Both Tianjin and Dengzhou have more people than ships. The ships they want to build can be sold without any worries, and all the profits are distributed to the craftsmen according to a certain proportion. Therefore, the two shipyards The enthusiasm of the craftsmen was so high that a large number of new ships were built in just half a year, and the shipbuilding beams accumulated over the years in the entire North China area were almost wiped out. (Note: Good shipbuilding wood cannot be cut down and planed before use. It usually needs to be soaked and dried, which takes a long time.) Not only are all ships driven away as soon as they hit the water, but even those still under construction It was also booked with high money.
In addition to these two large government-run shipyards, Zhang Mai also allowed the people to build their own ships. Seeing that the business was booming, some skilled craftsmen with some assets went out to work alone with the support of some large merchants, and they also built a number of ships. But first of all, the craftsmen that the people can gather at the moment are not as good as the official ones. Secondly, the reputation of the small shipyard is not yet established, and the shrewd businessmen are not willing to trust it for a while. The storm on the sea is dangerous. Who is willing to risk his wealth and life? So everyone would rather wait than buy ships indiscriminately. The business of several private shipyards is inevitably bleak, so today's situation of proactively coming to the port to sell ships happened.
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The business owner of the Liao Kingdom was half focused on business and half on politics. He didn't know much about the market situation of sea-going ships. He followed the young man to see the two sea-going ships he was selling. They were quite sturdy. The accompanying boatman confirmed the ships. After it was good, he paid for it - there were not many ships in the Liao Kingdom, especially sea-going ships. Not only could these two ships be used as transportation capacity, but the price would at least double when they were shipped to the Liao Kingdom.
When he was about to pay the money, the business owner of the Liao Kingdom made another reservation and said, "Does the government allow you to sell this ship?"
The young man hurriedly said: "Of course, of course. The government has regulations on what kind of ships can be sold to foreign countries and what kind of ships cannot be sold. These two sea-going ships happen to be at the highest limit of the regulations. We guarantee that it will not exceed the regulations. If it exceeds the regulations, our Liujia Shipyard is willing to take back the original price."
The business owner of the Liao Kingdom was relieved and paid the money. After receiving the money, looking at the excitement of the young man, the business owner of the Liao Kingdom couldn't help but feel a little strange. He didn't suffer any loss on this transaction.
He didn't know that this was the first batch of goods sold by their Liu family shipyard. The young man suppressed his ecstasy and asked the Liao merchants whether they wanted to order a few ships. They had stockpiles of wood and promised to order them before March next year. Available for delivery.
The merchants of the Liao Kingdom thought that if the ship arrived at the mouth of the Liao River, why would they worry that no one would take it over? So I came down and paid the deposit.
After getting the deposit, the young man was even more happy, knowing that the biggest difficulty of Liu's Shipyard was over, and a prosperous road opened up! He rushed back and forth to help Liao merchants with various procedures.
??This was delayed for another four or five days, and on a good day with little wind and waves, the Northeastern caravan finally set sail.
When they were about to leave the sea, another soldier boarded the ship to check if there were any prohibited items. They were allowed to leave the port only after they passed. When he was about to leave, the Liao merchant suddenly heard a team behind him saying: "This ship owner, most likely It is a detailed work of the Liao Kingdom."
"One sentence frightened the business owner of Liao State to death, his legs became weak, and he felt that he was doomed this time.
Then I heard the deputy captain say: "Never mind him, the above said, now we will act leniently. He didn't bring any prohibited items, he didn't break the law, and we have no evidence, so let him go."
The business owner of Liao Kingdom didn’t know why he left. He wiped his hands with cold sweat and returned to the ship, and ordered to go to sea quickly.
The ship departed from Tianjin and then headed straight east. In this era of maritime transportation-especially in the north, the crew did not dare to go too far from the shore. The fleet of four sea-going ships continued eastward, passed the Luanhe River estuary, and then turned northeast. Fortunately, everything was safe and finally arrived at the Liaohe River estuary. There is a newly built coastal town here called Liaojin. In terms of scale, it is far inferior to Tianjin, but all regulations are modeled after Tianjin's regulations. Not only do they have similar names, but they also have commercial areas, administrative areas, military and civilian areas, and garrison areas. They are just like a replica of Tianjin, which was established by South Korea at the end of last year. The young scholar was ordered to build it here.
On the open sea of ??the port, there were about twenty ships parked, including three or five Goryeo ships, one or two Japanese ships, seven or eight Tang ships, four or five Wuyue ships, and one or two Nanqi ships. In addition, there were also There are several ships from the Liao Kingdom.
Therefore, as soon as this caravan entered the port, the size of the four sea-going ships was very conspicuous. Naturally, the goods there were guarded. Here, the merchants of the Liao Kingdom entered a small wooden house, and in the house were actually the powerful people of the Liao Dynasty. Character Yelu House quality! After meeting him, the first words of the business owner of the Liao Kingdom were: "Your Majesty the Privy Council, I have fulfilled my mission!" (To be continued) - Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report
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